Budget 10-15K Need a budget phone for social media usage by an elderly

DanteErodov

DanteErodov

Adept
1. Budget?
A: 10k - 12k Max

2. Preferred display size, type and resolution?
A: 4.7"-5.5", IPS LCD/AMOLED, HD/FHD

3. Preferred operating system? (Android (with version), iOS, Windows Phone etc).
A: Android 10 & above

4. Preferred connectivity options? (4G, 3G, 2G etc).
A: 4G

5. Do you have any brand preference or dislike? Please name them.
A: Would prefer something from the likes of Samsung & Nokia. Would want to avoid Chinese OEMs due to their OS & origin.

6. What is your intended use for this phone (internet, camera, multimedia, mails etc.)?
A: Calls, What's App, Messages, Camera for voice calls & pics, Maybe Facebook etc. - No gaming or anything processing intensive

7. Single SIM/ Dual SIM?
A: No preference

8. New or Used? Online or Offline?
A: New. Don’t mind buying online

9. Any other requirements?
A: Need good battery backup

10. If you have already considered a phone, then please mention the model
A: Samsung F12/M12 4GB/64

This phone will be specifically used by an elderly person so gaming etc. is not at all in consideration. Usage will be typical social media, calling, little bit of camera usage for casual pics maybe nothing major through. Some of the specific must haves that I am looking for in the phone are:
  • Battery backup
  • Good performance for day to day tasks
  • Wi-Fi stability & overall device stability
  • OS & security updates for at least a couple of years
  • Any OS level feature to help elderly people would be a plus (Big UI & all)
So far, I am considering Samsung M12/F12 as the primary choice due to the brand value as well as the huge battery. It is available for 10k & I feel is priced correctly. I am concerned about the performance & would want to feedback regarding this from folks here.

Have also found Poco M3 & Redmi 9/10 also to be in budget. Although these devices sport better hardware configuration, I would want to avoid these brands due to a bad due to the following reasons: Bad past experience by the elderly person in question in a Redmi phone, Want a clean user experience.

Question: Is Samsung M12/F12 good enough for day to day usage? If not, what other options should I consider.
 
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DanteErodov said:
Motorola G40 looks like a good phone but it is slightly overbudget & is a bit too large. Will keep this one in consideration though. How is the software support BTW?

@seshu @bssunilreddy Wow... Samsung M21 looks like a real step up from M12/F12 at a very small price difference. Is there any catch to this or am I missing something?
Click to expand...
No never go with Motorola because I bought it recently and replaced its display twice by paying 5.4k only for its cracked fake display from its service center which says that warranty does not apply to physical damage to display or so they say.

Believe me don't go with any Chinese branded phones other than Nokia & Samsung.
 
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bssunilreddy said:
No never go with Motorola because I bought it recently and replaced its display twice by paying 5.4k only for its cracked fake display from its service center which says that warranty does not apply to physical damage to display or so they say.

Believe me don't go with any Chinese branded phones other than Nokia & Samsung.
Click to expand...
Right, I am also in agreement of going with Samsung right now. Deciding between M12 & M21, both are within budget but M21 clearly has superior specifications but is a year older so a bit confused regarding software support.
 
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DanteErodov said:
Motorola G40 looks like a good phone but it is slightly overbudget & is a bit too large. Will keep this one in consideration though. How is the software support BTW?

@seshu @bssunilreddy Wow... Samsung M21 looks like a real step up from M12/F12 at a very small price difference. Is there any catch to this or am I missing something?
Click to expand...

I have the m21 for a year now and no issues with it. Serves really well for my moderate usage. Only minor issue is that it keeps reinstall some apps like Moj and some other crap I can't remember the names of but I just uninstall them once about every 3 months.

Few apps can't be uninstall like amazon, Netflix, Facebook etc but they can be ignored.

Another thing to watch out for is during initial setup it asks for some functionality like Samsung account and Samsung membership etc and even tries to get you to accept display ads but if you deny those I have not seen ads yet.

One potential concern is it looks like if you want to use the find my phone feature it asks you to create and sign in to Samsung account and I don't know if this can be avoided.

Overall I'm very happy with the m21 but I would recommend Nokia for stock android, I only went with this m21 for oled and big 6000mah battery at a VFM price.
Both Nokia and Samsung claim good duration of updates 3 or 4 years I think.

I got two Nokia 3.2 phones for my elderly mom and aunt over a year ago for about 8k each and it works great for their basic usage. It even recently got android 11 which was unexpected.
 
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vishalrao said:
I have the m21 for a year now and no issues with it. Serves really well for my moderate usage. Only minor issue is that it keeps reinstall some apps like Moj and some other crap I can't remember the names of but I just uninstall them once about every 3 months.

Few apps can't be uninstall like amazon, Netflix, Facebook etc but they can be ignored.

Another thing to watch out for is during initial setup it asks for some functionality like Samsung account and Samsung membership etc and even tries to get you to accept display ads but if you deny those I have not seen ads yet.

One potential concern is it looks like if you want to use the find my phone feature it asks you to create and sign in to Samsung account and I don't know if this can be avoided.

Overall I'm very happy with the m21 but I would recommend Nokia for stock android, I only went with this m21 for oled and big 6000mah battery at a VFM price.
Both Nokia and Samsung claim good duration of updates 3 or 4 years I think.

I got two Nokia 3.2 phones for my elderly mom and aunt over a year ago for about 8k each and it works great for their basic usage. It even recently got android 11 which was unexpected.
Click to expand...
Samsung Galaxy phones does have one or two bloatware but they can be disabled which I did with mine.

Again regarding updates Samsung updated their policy by ensuring 4 years of security updates to all phones bought in 2020 and 3 years of OS updates to all phones bought in 2019 even.

So guaranteed security updates and OS updates is what makes or keeps any device in good working condition.

So no worries here.

Mine is M31s which received Android 11 in March,2021 while my wifey phone is M31 which received Android 11 in February itself.

And its showing May Security update lately.

Again the same kind of updates are done by Nokia where I also used Nokia 8.1 until August of 2020.

Both Samsung & Nokia displays are superb and updates too.

But my Nokia 8.1 battery got bulged and I gave it outside since its warranty is completed and that guy stole it by running away by shutting his shop.

So Nokia is a Finnish company by manufacturing is done by HMD Global but R&D is done in Finland or here itself.

Same to Samsung as well as they are manufactured here and R&D is done either in Seol or here.

But first updates to Samsung are released to Russia & Ukraine then it gets released to India.
So if any update is released for any model there means definitely it's going to get released here but after some time.

Again regarding Nokia as all its phones comes manufactured using Android One Programme and all updates are released to Russia & Ukraine first.


PS: Regarding what all the Chinese mobile manufacturers advertise by saying Gorilla Glass 6 & 7
But both Nokia & Samsung always say that their mobiles right from entry level to high end level advertise as Gorilla Glass 3 or 4

And they keep their words very well.

My Nokia 6.1 & 8.1 never lost its display
My Samsung M31s & M31 never lost its display



Even after they fell 5 feet from a desk even.
 
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bssunilreddy said:
My Nokia 6.1 & 8.1 never lost its display
My Samsung M31s & M31 never lost its display
Click to expand...
I also had a very good experience with Nokia phones in the past. In fact most of my family is using Nokia 6.1 & 8.1 & so far they seem to be working absolutely fine, specially the 8.1.

I did not have much experience with Samsung in the past but have heard good reviews lately so will try go with Samsung this time.
 
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